Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has resigned as a national co-chairman of Republican Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign to lobby for Wall Street. He has also ruled out a run for governor or Senate in Minnesota in 2014.

The Financial Services Roundtable announced Thursday that Pawlenty will become its new president and chief executive officer on November 1. Pawlenty adviser Brian McClung told The Associated Press that Pawlenty ruled out the races as he prepared to take the job heading the Wall Street lobbying group.

"With this new position, Governor Pawlenty is taking off the table running for U.S. Senate or governor in 2014," McClung said in an email. Pawlenty did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Pawlenty was an early entrant in the Republican presidential campaign, but he ended his bid last year after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses. He was also a finalist to be Romney’s vice presidential running mate.

I can think of four possibilities. In order of likelihood (least likely to most likely), they are as follows:

A) T-Paw believes Romney will win but won’t give him a plum job in his administration. This is hard for me to swallow. Pawlenty has been on board Team Mitt since he lost a straw poll to Michele Bachmann (remember her). And who can forget T-Paw’s the Iowa Straw Poll. And who can forget T-Paw’s refusal to confront Romney after his clever "Obamneycare" construction. Pawlenty had Mitt in his crosshairs over Romneycare and gave him a free pass without so much as a whimper. Mitt rewards loyalty (how else can we explain that incompetents like Andrea Saul and Eric Fehrnstrom still have jobs) and would certainly, in my opinion, have given T-Paw a prime job in his administration.

B) T-Paw was simply miffed at being "passed over" for the VP slot for the second time in as many elections. That can’t be good for the ego.

C) T-Paw, the self-described "Sam’s Club Republican" has had a change of heart, and decided that he’d rather join that "big triangle of greed" about which he once spoke rather than rail against it. Becoming a banking industry lobbyist offered him a symbolic and dramatic way to illustrate that change. Kind of like ripping the band aid off in one swift motion rather than slowly peeling it away.

D) Having seen the latest polling data and intrade trends – and the disarray inside the Romney camp — T-Paw has decided to flee the sinking ship while he could. He’s afraid that being associated with the Romney campaign will not be much of a resume enhancer … quite the opposite. (Think Steve Schmidt and the McCain campaign). The lobbying gig presented him with an irresistible life raft, so to speak, and T-Paw jumped into it head first.

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Republican2679

Even though I hope Romney wins in November, Governor Palin was and remains my choice. Like everyone else who faithfully read this site, I knew that Mitt Romney would not be a good candidate for the GOP. I hate to say that we were right. But we were right. But for the sake of our good country, I hope Romney wins.

http://lenbilen.com/ Lennart Bilén

O.k. Mitt, it is time to swallow your pride and call in the only person that can save your candidacy.

Call in Sarah Palin!!

You will win, but at a price. The Tea-party candidates will win in the congressional races.
It is a good thing, Mitt. All they want is save the nation by throwing out all the bums that caused this mess.

Go for it Mitt. What is more important, the Country or your pride?

http://www.facebook.com/natewebb Nathan Webb

With 47 days left Gallup shows them polling 47/47. Considering Romney has more money in the coffers and a more pissed off base, I think we can kiss Obama goodbye.

As for Tim, he has no purpose anyway, let him go lobby.

http://www.solitudebooks.com/ Dan C

I think you covered all the possibilities perfectly.

n4cerinc

There is another theory that has been floated by WaPo (Leftist viewpoint, I know, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be considered).

"The downsides seem clearer than the upsides. If Romney wins, then Pawlenty, a close Romney friend who co-chaired the Republican candidate’s presidential campaign and was seriously considered for the veep slot, will have all the access he could want. But if Obama is reelected, Pawlenty isn’t likely to be the most appealing messenger to the Democrats’ administration.But to put it in market lingo, the Financial Service Roundtable, observers say, is pricing that in. The past four years have made it clear that Democrats aren’t likely to sympathize with the Financial Services Roundtable, regardless of what happens on Election Day. But Congressional Republicans might."

In other words, FSR is betting on a Romney win to gain favors in the Romney Administration. To me, this is just another form of that behavior that one lady spoke about that one time in that field in that one state last fall.

Yes. E. Governor Pawlenty realizes that Mitt Romney is not up to the job of being president.

section9

Oh, Romney’s quite up to the job, thank you very much. He just might not win is all.

As for President Insolvency? Well, the returns are coming in from Cairo and Benghazi, and they’re not looking too good right now.

You know, at some point, the money quote from Romney’s Mystery Tape is going to fall in on Prog’s Heads like John Galt’s Speech does on a teenager who tries to wade through it. Money quote (hat tip: ZeroHedge.com):

Romney: "[The] former head of Goldman Sachs, John Whitehead, was also the former head of the New York Federal Reserve.
And I met with him, and he said as soon as the Fed stops buying all the
debt that we’re issuing—which they’ve been doing, the Fed’s buying like
three-quarters of the debt that America issues. He said, once that’s over, he said we’re going to have a failed Treasury auction, interest rates are going to have to go up. We’re living in this borrowed fantasy world,
where the government keeps on borrowing money. You know, we borrow this
extra trillion a year, we wonder who’s loaning us the trillion? The
Chinese aren’t loaning us anymore. The Russians aren’t loaning it to us
anymore. So who’s giving us the trillion? And the answer is we’re just making it up. The
Federal Reserve is just taking it and saying, "Here, we’re giving it."
It’s just made up money, and this does not augur well for our economic
future. You know, some of these things are complex enough it’s not easy
for people to understand, but your point of saying, bankruptcy usually
concentrates the mind."

Dude: the world as you know it is coming to an end. The world that you support and the policies and politics that you believe in were all based on looted money, stolen from generations unborn. All Barack Obama was was the flip side of George W. Bush. Only when it is too late will you understand that.

Everything Obama believes in is unsustainable and will come unraveled.

My guess was that Romney discovered that T-Pawz was secretly shilling for Jeb 2016 rather than Romney 2012.

Maybe that is too generous of me?

Jthom26837

Please, Allow me to rhetort: Sarah Palin, Where are you?!??!

Kimberly Petrich

Un-flippin’believable. Wait. No it’s not.

lonestar

Oh, we knew him all right! As I am typing, Hannity used the word, sellout. Perfect.

CharterOakie

E) … a derivative of C):

Money talks; b.s. walks.

unseen1

option E. As the only horonable man alive he understands what a complete screw up Mitt’s campaign has been and did the hornorable thing and resigned. They all should resign posthaste.

independents4palin

So this is the guy that the establishment wanted as a Presidental candidate, thank goodness the primary voters saw right through this. He is fake like the rest of the GOP establishment. I am glad Michelle Bachmann ripped into him in the debates.

$3069072

….

Guest

What’s the SNL character who can ruin a swell time? Debbie Downer? I think we might have a Dougie Downer.

With friends like Doug, who needs enemies?

CharterOakie

Conservatives for PALIN. Not conservatives for whatever and whomever the "repubic" wing of the corrupt PPE puts forth.